tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 09 21:39:52 1999

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KLBC: Bart Simpson



Call me a rebel.  Despite all warnings to the contrary, I'm still trying
to translate colloquialisms into tlhingan Hol.  And, lucky me, I think
I've found one that should translate (relatively) smoothly.  Imagine
Bart Simpson, that yellow skinned, spiky haired, juvenile
delinquent-in-training, was tlhingan.  How would you translate his
famous tag-line:

I didn't do it                            vIta'pu'be'
Nobody saw me do it             vIleghbe'lu'  (?)
You can't prove a thing           botobbe'

I have been pounding my head against the keyboard trying to get the
'right' translation for the second line.  The closest I could get was 'I
was not seen doing it'.  However I'm still having trouble translating
'doing it' and all I could get was 'I was not seen'.

I'm also not sure about the use of {ta'} in the first line.  to
accomplish something, one must first set out to do that thing.  The
first line is basically a blanket denial of an accusation.  Is there a
better (more satisfying) way of saying this?



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